


Say It With A Song

by QueenVulca



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Businesswoman Hermione, Crazy friendship, F/M, M/M, Pining Draco, Secretly In Love Draco, Song fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-02 12:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10944306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenVulca/pseuds/QueenVulca
Summary: Will the lucky green day really prove lucky for Draco Malfoy as he's all set to woo his lady love? Businesswoman!Hermione. AU. Lots of side pairings (five to be exact). Written for Spring Fest organised by Strictly Dramione.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Pictures for this collage were generously provided by Google but the credit of that Blaise Ginny picture goes to RZZMG.
> 
> This story was written for the Spring Fest organised by Strictly Dramione group in Facebook- a wonderful haven for all Dramione lovers. I urge you to check it out.
> 
> Prompt: St Pat's Day.
> 
> Yes, that was all I got. So, I took huuuge liberties with this story.
> 
> Beta love: Thanks for MMLV for helping me grammar wise. And a huge huge round of applause for SeraNeko Chan who really had her work cut out for her. She helped make sense of my rambled words and pointed out those things were looked really fine to the person who wrote this (yes, me!).
> 
> My eternal love to my Alpha reader, my bestie, my cheerleader - Puja who' the neverending spring of motivation for me. And a big thanks to my fellow geek, WinchesterGranger who's sweeter than the sweetest cotton candy.
> 
> Hope you guys like this story.
> 
> P.S: This is a song fic. So, here's the list of songs I've used in the order they appeared.
> 
> Lana Del Ray- Young and Beautiful.
> 
> The Vamps- Somebody to You
> 
> Magic!- Rude
> 
> Ariana Grande ft Weeknd- Love Me Harder
> 
> ABBA- Take A Chance On Me
> 
> P.P.S: Voldemort died in the First Wizarding War. The Death Eaters were found and punished accordingly. As a result, Lucius Malfoy was not present in Draco's childhood. Eases the story, you know.
> 
> P.P.P.S: This story will be updated every three days! Yay to finished stories! See, once I have a finished story, I'm gonna update them real fast.
> 
> Onwards now!

 

* * *

 

 

"How is our favourite power ranger today? Saving the world one villain at a time?" asked Harry when Hermione slid across his seat in the Ministry cafeteria which Harry was sharing with Ron. Ron merely raised his brows to greet Hermione since he was busy stuffing his face like the Drought was about to hit.

"Not good," Hermione replied after a pause.

"Why not?"

"The changes I want to enforce in this backwards society are getting rejected at every turn. It seems like even after the war, the people are rigidly set on following the archaic rules and norms," Hermione huffed.

"Don't worry, Hermione. They'll see the light soon," Harry reassured.

"I think by then it'll be too late, Harry. Looks like I have to try plan B."

"And plan B is?"

"Induction by exposure to the change. Very slowly. So that the subject doesn't get startled and can see the change without hostility. The change must be induced in such a way that it becomes the new standard and then slowly input in the larger changes as the subject doesn't fear the change any longer. In fact, the subject shall crave the change. Objective accomplished." Hermione ended with a proud grin that would have looked deranged on anyone else, though on Hermione it seemed to fit pretty well.

"It sounds like a good plan. But unfortunately, I understood zilch of it." Harry's confusion was clear in his voice.

"Metal rock genre was the sound of Devil, remember?"

"I seem to recall so, yes." Harry nodded.

"And with repeated exposure to such music, it slowly got accepted as a genre of music, didn't it? People didn't run the other way anymore on when hearing the music. It became accepted."

A light bulb flashed in Harry's head. "The boiling frog problem. Yes, I get what you are saying!" he said excitedly.

"Why would you boil a frog?" Ron asked, confused when he finally tuned into the conversation.

"You know if you try to put a live frog in a pot of hot water, it'll jump out and escape. But if you keep it in cool water and slowly heat it up that water, by the time it realises the water is dangerously hot it cannot jump out as it has lost all its energy adjusting to the water's increasing temperature. So in the end, you get a boiled frog," Harry explained.

"Merlin's beard, she's rubbing off her genius on us," Ron commented.

"You were at an impressionable age when I met you. I can congratulate myself for being able to make at least some of your grey cells tingle." Hermione replied in a deadpan voice.

"Hey, I did use my grey cells, thank you very much. They were only blocked because they were exposed to too much of Ron Weasley," Harry said indignantly.

"And this Weasley shall make them stop tingle with a nice hex I learn from 'Mione the other day. So shut your cake hole," Ron said without any heat.

Hermione laughed as Harry and Ron began squabbling like two seven-year-olds.

"So what's your plan?" Harry asked after they sobered up.

"Let's just see. I'll take each day as it comes. I hope I can find the way to change soon," Hermione said hopefully.

"And cheers to that!" Harry toasted with his bottle of Butterbeer.

"Cheers, mate!" Ron added.

"Cheers!" Hermione said optimistically. The three of them, then, clinked with their bottles together.

* * *

**Seven Months Later**

**Welcome everyone to our Witch Weekly November special interview of the hottest couple in the block on the one and only Magika Watch. We are your gossip buddies for the latest news on the who's who and who's with whom in town. Today's interview is featuring the Ever Young couple. None other the Malfoys. No, not the oh-so-handsome Draco Malfoy but the elder generation! Today we have with us the elusive Narcissa Malfoy who has agreed to spill the beans about their renewed love life. This is your favourite host Perihaan Bagshaw ready with the top questions posted by other listeners themselves.**

**Perihaan: Welcome and thank you so much for this interview, Mrs Malfoy.**

**Mrs Malfoy: It is my pleasure.**

**Perihaan: So, Mrs Malfoy, care to share your side about the latest spin at the Ministry Ball that took place on the New Year's Eve.**

**Mrs Malfoy: All I can say is that the spice is back to our life. We realised we have been missing out on a lot of things. But now, we are up to speed again.**

**Perihaan: You both are a sight to see on the dance floor. Even I was awed by the grace and the beauty of both your moves.**

**Mrs Malfoy: The right partner makes everything all right. He complements you and brings out the best in you.**

**Perihaan: We have no doubts the walls of the Malfoy manor have been privy to this. But after so many years, what brought upon this PDA through dance?**

**Mrs Malfoy: A lovely witch and her music mended many cracks that were forming due to how monotonous the everyday routine our life had become. She taught that music can be a beautiful way of expressing your love.**

**Perihaan: Ahhh… a cupid? We would love to hear about this special witch. How did she cast her healing spells?**

**Mrs Malfoy: She is a special witch all right. I am not shy about sharing this one. She saw us fight bitterly at a private party, one day. I'll admit that being a woman I feared that I'll lose the battle of age in time. It is, after all, inevitable. But a woman needs reassurance. I can vouch that for every woman out there. But it also hurts our pride to ask our other half if we look as beautiful as the first time we met. If…if we still look the same to them. This…this lack of communication was creating upheavals in our private life. He couldn't understand my despair and I saw him not paying any heed to my insecurity. It felt as if…as if he no longer cared. Lovely Miss Granger one day came up to me when I was silently mourning my troubles and she assured me that she wanted to be a kind ear for me.**

**Perihaan: I don't think Miss Granger and you have the same social circles, do you?**

**Mrs Malfoy: she is an excellent planner. And I have often used her services to organise for the various party and balls we host. That brilliant girl was a kind soul to this old woman.**

**Perihaan (interrupting): I don't believe anyone will call you old, Mrs Malfoy. You still reign as the social rose.**

**Mrs Malfoy: You are making me blush. (A tinkering laugh). Well, this girl then gave me a song. She told me that nothing can help us express ourselves better than a song and that miscommunication will often ruin relationships. And I listened to her. I planned this private dance at our ballroom and we danced to it while Lucius paid his full attention to the song's words. And he knew. Merlin, he knew the troubles that were aching me. He reassured me that not even time will be able dull his love for me. In fact, it will only serve to make it stronger.**

**Perihaan: Here I thought things like this only happened in novels.**

**Mrs Malfoy: May Merlin bless Miss Granger. She brought new vigour and colour in our fading life.**

**Perihaan: And what fateful song would that be?**

**Mrs Malfoy: It was a Muggle song. By someone called Lana Del Ray. It was Young and Beautiful.**

**Perihaan: With this, we come to the end of our short interview with the gorgeous and timeless beauty Mrs Narcissa Malfoy. Thank you so much for joining us today, Mrs Malfoy.**

**Mrs Malfoy: I had a lovely time.**

**Perihaan: So long then my listeners. This is Perihaan, your teatime friend. But don't forget to tune in for the next show where we are going to—**

A click switched off the radio filling the room with a pregnant silence as Harry turned to face a squirming Hermione in the plush seat on the right side of the fireplace. Ron sat opposite to her and Harry slowly sat down on the loveseat facing the fireplace. The two men sat there, staring at Hermione who was visibly wriggling in her seat.

"Care to explain that?" Harry asked tonelessly.

"Yeah," Ron added.

"Eh… changing the world one song at a time?" Hermione said questioningly.

Harry and Ron's face didn't change their expression. After a little wriggling, Hermione huffed, "Oh for God's sake, I saw her sitting at a private table at the new bistro in Diagon Alley, looking very, very sad and forlorn. So I—"

"So you approached the Malfoy matriarch and brightened her day?" Ron quipped.

"Sort of," Hermione mumbled.

Harry didn't say anything more. He leant forward. "I am just…more like…very surprised."

"It seems so," Hermione stated the obvious.

"You are good at this," Harry commented. "I really didn't think you would be able to make the older Malfoy generation dance to Lana Del Ray. You remember, Ron, how Narcissa actually crooned the lyrics to a blushing Lucius right in front of everybody at the Ministry Ball?"

"It was bloody hilarious." Ron snickered, no longer able to hold the serious expression. And Harry joined him, laughing with his head thrown back.

"Wait… you guys are not…angry?" Hermione asked puzzled at her friends' antics.

Ron said between laughs, "Hahaha! Why would be angry? It was so brilliant. I mean, our genius here made the pureblood celebrities dance to a muggle tune. It was…"

"Too good." Finished Harry.

After the three of them subdued a little, Ron asked, "So… what's next?"

* * *

It was a Friday night and her friends had managed to drag her out of her home to get some fresh air. They had even managed to contact their closest DA friends and so right now Hermione was teaching them pub-crawling.

"So, basically we are going to go there and drink at as many different pubs as we can?" Neville asked unsurely.

"Yes," Hermione answered cheerfully.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Seamus exclaimed excitedly.

"The catch is we are going pub crawling in muggle London," Hermione said halting the group in their tracks.

"But why?" Lavender asked.

"Give me the names of the pubs in Magical London," Hermione demanded, almost haughtily to Lavender.

After a pause, Lavender replied, "Okay, you got me."

"Come on. There's this great place I know to start from," Hermione suggested.

* * *

Hermione had brought them all to a place that seemed like a collection of small shops to those who had never visited the Muggle side of London ever before. There were flashing lights everywhere, and a crowd that barely stopped at anything. Everyone was busy doing…whatever they were doing. Many were walking past them engrossed in a flat notebook like thing that was glowing by itself. Hermione explained to them that it was something called a smartphone. The place where Hermione brought them was called a mall. It was huge, teeming with people who moved around carrying bags, talking and laughing with friends or family and every once in awhile someone raised that phone thingy with one arm and posed ridiculously in front of the phone and then got engrossed in the phone again doing…stuffs on it. There were strange restaurants too where one had to get their meals by themselves- no waiters or server. So strange yet so independent. It was a nice concept.

But they had come to go pub-crawling, so it was strange that they hadn't encountered a pub yet.

"Where's the pub, Hermione?" Seamus asked as he watched the place overflow with the people. The ones who had never been to the Muggle side were sticking pretty close to Hermione, Harry and Dean as he was doing. He had some idea about it but he went out to explore. He should have done it before, it was an experience worth enjoying.

"Harry, you know where the pub is, right?" Hermione asked Harry, who nodded to her. Lavender was stuck to Ron like a burr, dragging Ron along for window shopping and Luna and Neville were busy admiring a mime who was performing nearby, entertaining the kids in the store. Dean, Hannah and Ginny seemed to be whispering back and forth about some secret that no one else was privy to.

"Great! Seamus, Harry's going to take you all there. I think I saw a friend of mine. Dean, come with me?" Hermione asked and without waiting for a reply she grabbed Dean's hand and rushed away, the others oblivious to Hermione and Dean's swift exit, still busy doing what they were already doing except for Seamus.

"That didn't feel right, did it mate?" Seamus confusedly asked Harry who was now dragging Seamus along to somewhere.

"Let's get on this escalator first." Harry tried to ignore the question. "Hey, everyone. To the escalator, people!"

The group followed them and as soon as they reached the halfway point the escalator stopped.

"This doesn't seem right," Seamus said again looking down the crowd below when suddenly the people on the ground below them started dancing to loud music.

Luna, Lavender, Ginny, Ron, Neville, Hannah and Harry quickly climbed down the now static stairs and pointed their hands towards Seamus and shouted, "Yeah you! Yeah, you!" leaving Seamus standing dumbfounded there.

I used to wanna be

(The crowd was dancing to the rhythm, but Seamus could distinctly hear a familiar voice.)

Living like there's only me

And now I spend my time

Thinking 'bout a way to get you off my mind

(The crowd parted and Seamus saw Dean singing for him.)

Yeah you! (Their friends shouted in chorus.)

I used to be so tough

Never really gave enough (Dean approached the end of the stairs.)

And then you caught my eye

Giving me the feeling of a lightning strike (The crowd was dancing to lyrics without a care.)

Yeah you! (Hermione now joined her singing friends.)

Look at me now, I'm falling

(Dean was lifted up and then made to fall abruptly only to be caught by the crowd. Seamus' heart almost stopped.)

I can't even talk, still stuttering

This ground of mine keeps shaking (The crowd was now stomping the ground.)

Oh oh oh, now!

All I wanna be, yeah all I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah

Is somebody to you (everyone was singing and dancing now.)

All I wanna be, yeah all I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah

Is somebody to you

(The other shoppers had stopped to watch and some even recorded the scenes.)

Everybody's trying to be a billionaire

But every time I look at you I just don't care

(Seamus climbed down the stairs and flung his arms around Dean.)

'Cause all I wanna be, yeah all I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah

Is somebody to you

(Seamus kissed Dean without a care for the world.)

Yeah you!

(The crowd had stopped dancing now but everyone was clapping and whooping loudly for the pair who was lost in their own world.)

"Thank you so much, Hermione!" Dean thanked Hermione when he parted from Seamus for barely a moment.

The beaming smile on her face was all the reply Dean needed.

What Hermione didn't notice was a certain platinum blonde man, who had followed them all the way from Leaky Cauldron, in the crowd who looked utterly captivated by the smile on her face.

* * *

Draco had his own business…er…he managed the family business. But for some dealings of the business, he needed to be in contact with the absolute nincompoops at the Ministry. Since nowadays the Malfoy Inc. focussed on trading with international 'merchants', Draco frequently had to contact the International Magical Trading Standards officials of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. And sometimes, he even made detours through Muggle London in the name of experience. And know thy enemy and other such rot reasons that his father used to sprout when he was young. Now he understood that, like a true Slytherin, his father gave him permission to know about the Muggles without coming off as a Muggle fanatic like the Patriarch Weasley.

It used to be pleasant since a certain Ms Granger had made it her task to make that department the smoothest running department of the Ministry. After she resigned he declared it rather unfortunate that she had decided to leave. Yet internally he was cursing his luck that he hadn't acted sooner and had snagged that diamond before it got lost. Again. First, he couldn't gather the courage to date the most Gryffindor-ish girl ever in school and now he procrastinated and lost her. He should have told Hermione that he was interested in her and wanted to court her but now she's gone. The owls couldn't reach her and he didn't run in the same circles that she did.

'If I met her again, I would start by thanking her for her assistance in my parent's love life. Wait! That sounded really weird. I should come off as charming not like a bumbling fool. She has those two fools for that. Then I should thank her for…helping my parents. Yes, that sounds normal. And then I would ask her how she knew what to do to help my mother. Then she'll answer and I'll be polite but charming and the next thing you know- Hermione Malfoy! Sounds about right.' Draco nodded to himself and made his way out of the Ministry.

Only to remember the memo from Florean's that his stash of ice-cream had arrived. He Apparated and appeared in the Diagon Alley and made his way to Florean Fortescue's. Luck was smiling on him as he noticed a familiar no-longer-broomstick end but bushy like a properly conditioned lion's mane-haired brunette sitting with surprise! Surprise! The two bumbling trolls that saved the world with a healthy dose of luck. As he entered the parlour, he turned his head left and Hermione immediately spotted him. He gave her a nod and a smile and she smiled in return. But she quickly said something to her sidekicks and soon they got out only to go into the private section of the parlour.

To say he was disappointed would be an understatement. He finished half a pint of his ice cream right at the parlour and took away two more pints to accompany him in his days of darkness.

"Pansy's father said no," Harry said morosely as soon as they took their place in the private table at Florean Fortescue's. "He said he would rather watch me die in sorrow than to give away his daughter to me."

"Ouch, that was harsh," Ron said wincing a little.

"And so rude," Hermione snapped. And then her face gave a maniacal Cheshire cat grin, "Of course, rude."

"I am going to regret saying this in front of her, won't I?" Harry said as his panic grew in proportion to Hermione's widening grin.

"Sure, mate." Ron was proud that his voice barely shook as he said it and quickly shoved a spoonful of ice-cream in his mouth as an excuse to not talk anymore.

Pansy was a bit worried…okay…a very worried ever since Harry came to her father asking for her hand in marriage and her father's obnoxious rejection of such a good match. Pansy sneered as another house elf carried a long scroll in his hand to get a seal on it from her father. Pansy wrung her hands. Her father was determined to marry her off to just about anybody now since Harry, the half-blooded bastard, had set his eyes on his daughter. If worse came to worse,[looks like I ended up using a metaphor of my native language in English] she would elope with him- whether her father liked it or not. Pansy paced in her room when she heard a knock on her French doors that opened into her lavish balcony. Within a minute, she heard another knock. Pansy stalked towards the door wanting to dump all the frustration on the unfortunate owl and opened the door with mighty heave when a pebble hit her face.

"What the bloody hell!" Pansy shouted and looked out her balcony when the strangest sight met her eyes. Harry was there standing sheepishly with strange pole with a tilted thing on top of it. Hermione was fiddling with some long black ropes and some black boxes that were screeching slightly and Ron was moving around some more black boxes and casting some spell on them once it was done. Harry looked up at her and gave her a thumbs-up and mouthed 'You will love this' and a strange tune began. Harry was tapping his feet slightly and Hermione and Ron were behind him with that pole thing, swaying slightly to the music only they could hear. Harry tunelessly began to sing looking right in front of him where Pansy guessed her father might be standing glaring out of the window,

Saturday morning jumped out of bed and put on my best suit (Harry began slowly.)

Got in my car and raced like a jet, all the way to you (He looked up at her and smiled.)

Knocked on your door with heart in my hand (He placed his free hand on his heart.)

To ask you a question (He pointed out Mr Parkinson.)

Cause I know that you're an old fashioned man

Yeah yeah (Hermione and Ron crooned.)

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes

Cause I need to know (Harry closed his eyes and sang with all his heart.)

You say I'll never get your blessing till the day I die

Tough luck my friend but the answer is no! (Harry looked at Mr Parkinson accusingly.)

(Then Hermione and Ron joined him singing really badly.)

Why you gotta be so rude?

Don't you know I'm human too? (Hermione and Ron waved their hands at Harry's person.)

Why you gotta be so rude?

I'm gonna marry her anyway (Hermione and Ron flipped Mr Parkinson the bird.)

Marry that girl (Hermione was grinning like a fool, looking up at Pansy.)

Marry her anyway (Ron pointed her out.)

Marry that girl (Hermione and Ron shook their hair to the beat.)

Yeah, no matter what you say (Harry was grinning full out now.)

Marry that girl (Hermione and Ron jumped to Harry's side.)

And we'll be a family (The two of them put their arms around Harry and swayed.)

Why you gotta be so

Ruuuuuuude (Harry actually glared at Mr Parkinson.)

The three of them kept on singing ridiculously, not caring that the Parkinson elders had moved away from their parlour window.

"I don't suppose you are thinking of throwing out the Golden Trio, the saviour of the Wizarding Britain from your lawn?" Mrs Parkinson sniffed.

"The reporters shall have a field day after that," Mr Parkinson said pacing in his place.

"Then the best course of action is getting our girl married to the boy who was brave enough to do this. Merlin knows, Gryffindors are stupid and brave enough to do much more to embarrass us into giving away our daughter. At least this can be seen as a very romantic and emotional gesture. The press will eat this up with joy. Think about the connections that will bring, Harvey?" Mrs Parkinson reasoned.

"I am calling my solicitor to draw up a proper contract. And you please tell the three, sorry, four crazy people," Pansy had long since left the security of her balcony and was dancing with Hermione to their tuneless singing, "to stop singing. If they had only sung like this in front of the Dark Lord he probably would have died sooner."

* * *

It had been a couple of weeks since Harry officially got engaged to Pansy. Mrs Parkinson had begrudged thanked Hermione for helping her daughter get the love of her life and for securing such a good match for her. Hermione was polite but didn't think much about it. What disturbed her a little was the fact her mind jumped to the time when she danced a couple of songs with Malfoy. What was more frightening was the fact that she forgot how many songs she danced with Mal- Draco. She had a pleasant time him. And secretly she was looking forward to it. But for now, her work was her only husband.

"I think she's losing interest in me," Ron complained as he dropped heavily into Hermione's sofa disturbing Crookshanks who was lounging in his human's lap. Crookshanks hissed at him and jumped into the sun patch on the windowsill.

"Lavender? Noooo. She'll lose interest in you the day this world ends." Hermione answered looking up from her magic proof tablet. Ah… the perks of muggle devices.

"She's not…she's not happy with me anymore." Ron tried to ease Hermione into the fact.

"You mean…not happy with the way you do 'it'?" Hermione confirmed.

"This is so embarrassing… yes." Ron said with his face red as a tomato, his complexion clashing badly with his hair.

"And what do I look like? A marriage counsellor?" Hermione jibed.

"You are a great match maker. Thought you could help," Ron was mumbling now. "I mean you helped Harry. Hell, you even helped Dean and Seamus. So I thought maybe…maybe you could have a song that could…I don't know…help us."

"Awww… Ron, you have grown up," Hermione gave a fake sniff. "They grow up so quickly." More fake sniffs.

"I don't think you should work with the twins anymore. They are rubbing off on you rather too much." Ron glared.

"Our ickle little teaspoon. Grown to be a tablespoon." Hermione teased as she pulled Ron's cheek and made baby noises at him.

"Hermione!" Ron whined. "I really need your help."

"Ron, go home to your pregnant wife. I'll search for the right song and let you know. Okay?" Hermione said as she got up and pulled Ron out of the seat. "Don't forget to take her favourite mint chip ice cream and crackers. It's her IT food of the day or so. Go home now!"

"You won't forget, no?" Ron asked.

"I am Hermione Granger, Ron. I don't forget."

* * *

"Okay, I forgot. I am a busy person, Ron!" Hermione snapped at Ron when he interrupted her in the middle of an important legal contract read through for the proposal of the introduction of pens and notebooks. Ron had come there directly from Quidditch practice. He was so sure that Hermione must have had made some really cool plans for him to woo Lavender again. But…

"But you promised!" Ron whined sadly.

"Yes, but I became busy. Look around me, Ron. Do you think I slept in the past two days? No! I have been working and working and working. Just go home now! And come later when I am not drowning in work!" Hermione snarled at him.

Ron nodded his head sadly and Floo-ed out of her study. As he stepped out of his house's fireplace, a soft music came to his ears. He quickly made his way to his bedroom, which was decorated with rose petals and perfumed candles. Lavender stepped out, her slightly bulging, pregnant belly looking alluring in the pink, lacy, short and ever so indecent dress she was wearing. The soft music continued a little longer as he eyed his wife reach him gracefully.

Lavender was merely lip-syncing the song, it took a little effort. It was a catchy song but dang! The expression on her husband's face was worth the effort she gave into this.

Tell me something, I need to know

Then take my breath and never let it go (Lavender sang this in his ears softly.)

If you just let me invade your space

I'll take the pleasure, take away the pain (Lavender moved away from him only to be stopped by Ron who caught her wrist.)

And if in the moment I bite my lip (Lavender deliberately bit her lower lip.)

Baby, in that moment, you'll know this (Ron's eyes were blown wide and he was panting a little.)

Is something bigger than us and beyond bliss

Give me a reason to believe it (Lavender nodded at him and he smirk at her.)

'Cause if you want to keep me,

You gotta gotta gotta gotta gotta got to love me harder (Lavender quickly embraced him and remained that way.)

And if you really need me, you gotta gotta gotta gotta gotta gotta got to love me harder (She looked up at him and he nodded at her.)

(Gotta love me harder)

Love me, love me, love me

Harder, harder, harder

Everything else was forgotten as Ron gave her a searing kiss. He quickly picked Lavender up bridal style and made his way to their bedroom, the song forgotten as it played on in the background where it finally stopped after a couple of minutes. The sounds of bliss could still be heard long after the burning candles dwindled down and late at night they finally melted away and went out.

* * *

"Matchmaker, huh? I didn't see this one happening." Harry said smirking as he folded the Daily Prophet and laid it on the dining table.

"Yeah, Hermione. You are a natural this," Ron added as he thought back about his improved relationship with Lavender.

"Guys, you forgot my plan already?" Hermione asked giving them her 'You-are-incorrigible' look.

"Huh?!" Were their intelligent replies.

"Boiling frog, remember? This is just phase one. The frog is in. Now I have to crank up the temperature. And wait for the end result."

"So what's next?" Ron asked, finally getting the hang of the complete plan.

"Wizarding London doesn't have any amusement parks, does it?"

"Noooo." drawled Harry as his eyes brightened at the idea of having a magical amusement park.

"Nor does it have that annoying buzzing thing that's buzzing in your pocket right now. Or that quill with no inkpot thing. What was that called? Fen? Oh and ... and that parchment bound together by some springy things. I liked that, by the way," Ron babbled.

Hermione dragged her palm down her face. "So many things to do! Gods, I am never getting a break am I?" She huffed out loud. "I really need a break."

"Just a few more things to do, sweetheart. Few more rules to break, ideologies to be changed and money to be made," Ginny said as she walked in on the conversation the trio was having. "I have set your meeting with the Twins in the afternoon today. I know that will take a long time so I postponed your meeting with the parchment makers to tomorrow. I hope I can squeeze in a day out at Luna's spa in the weekend."

"And you are?" Harry asked pretending he didn't know who Ginny was.

"Ginny Weasley, personal assistant to one Hermione Granger," Ginny replied cheekily.

"Really?" Hermione asked bemusedly.

"Really. I am having an off-season now. It's going to snow very badly for a month or two. So other than really early morning exercise, I am pretty much free the whole day. I thought of helping you out," Ginny explained handing out coffee for Harry, butterbeer for Ron and herbal tea for Hermione.

Hermione hummed in satisfaction as she took a sip, "This is good."

"And it'll help you relax," Ginny said with a soft smile on her face. "So, what do we do next?"

"Boil the frog now," Ron deadpanned.

"What?!" Ginny exclaimed while Harry and Hermione shared a grin.

"Well, it goes like this…" Hermione began.

* * *

Ginny had been her temporary assistant for past three weeks and Hermione was really enjoying the way Ginny kept everything organised. It was really relaxing; half of her work had been completed because of this. The amusement park was a big thing, so the Twins were helping her create an amusement house as a demo. But given the secrecy law, the amusement house was a fantastic idea. They could always spell the place to be bigger on the inside.

"I heard what you did for Ron," Ginny said, looking at Hermione accusingly as she came to 'work' that day at Hermione's home.

"Well...Technically, I helped Lavender which in turn helped Ron," Hermione said casually noticing the accusing look but not saying anything about it.

"And you helped Seamus and Dean too," Ginny mumbled but the look didn't change. "And Harry and Pansy. And the Malfoy's for crying out loud."

Hermione finally turned around and asked her up straight, "Spit it out, Gin. You and I both don't like the cloak and dagger business,"

"I need your help," Ginny blurted out.

"I'm...Surprised," Hermione said carefully. "You never had problems snagging a boy before."

"That's the thing. Boys are easy to lure in but men? Men are like this bundle of stubbornness and pride and ego in a hot package of rippling physique."

"This has got nothing to do with the fact that you are trying to get rid of the fact that you dated Dean?"

"Mione, he's a bi. I enjoyed the time with him and I'm happy for him. But I'm not happy for myself."

"Who's the guy?"

* * *

The renovated pub in Diagon Alley had a steady flow of customers ever since the fairy godmother, who goes by the name of Hermione Granger flicked her wand at it. Leaky Cauldron had been a go to place before but now it has become a hangout spot for everybody. And today was a special night for all the young people; what is was it wasn't mentioned. The golden trio and their DA member friends were all present- drinking, talking and having a merry time. It was a relaxing night when the door opened and in came the Silver heartthrobs- Draco, Blaise and Theo along with Pansy who made a beeline for Harry.

"Traitor!" Draco whispered angrily.

"You can't blame her. We are all wet blankets today." Theo justified as he watched Pansy park her butt on the bespectacled saviour's lap.

"You both are. Not me." Blaise said as he gracefully walked to the bar leaving his companions behind.

"He's a damn betraying rat. Abandoning us in the time we needed him the most," Draco said as he watched Blaise flirt light-heartedly with Hannah, who was the bartender for that night.

"You are the sinking ship, my friend. I am merely a wet blanket." Theo clarified.

They watched Blaise flirt some more when Longbottom angrily stalked his claim on the pretty honey blonde bartender. Blaise put his hands up in surrender and grabbed his drink and re-joined them.

"I fancy myself a drink now," Theo said as he walked away.

"I'll accompany you," Draco said joining Theo.

"Hey, you can't leave me alone like this," Blaise complained.

"We can. And we will," Draco turned back and replied.

Blaise rolled his eyes and enjoyed his drink. The Gryffindors were goofing around, but Draco's girl and the redheaded siren stood a bit away from the group. It seemed like Granger was counselling her on something and Ginny nervously nodded her head and walked towards the door beside the newly created stage at the far side of the pub. Blaise appreciated the swaying, fabric hugging arse tantalising him so badly and took a deep gulp of his drink.

"Welcome everybody. This is I, Lee your host for tonight! Today's special evening is happening courtesy one Miss Granger and her magic of music. A big round of applause for Hermione Granger!" announced Lee Jordan.

"Today is a karaoke night. People are going to come up to this podium and sing popular songs. The lyrics will be there, the music will be there, all you have to do is sing," Hermione explained cheerfully.

"Why don't you begin this evening with a song, Hermione?" Lee asked.

"They might be the saviours of the Wizarding world but they can't sing to save their lives. Trust me," shouted Pansy from the nearby table. Harry and Ron's loud laugh joined her.

"Pansy is right. But in my stead, my best friend…" Hermione began.

"Oi!" Ron shouted.

"Okay, okay. My best female friend is going to sing on my behalf." Hermione turned to face the door which opened to reveal Ginny. She was now wearing a white flock dress with pink lace overlay that ended at her knees giving her an innocent girl look. She joined Hermione on the stage and gave a dramatic spin and twirl that made her skirt billow around legs. Hermione handed Ginny the microphone and she flicked her hair to one side exposing her long, slender neck.

Blaise felt his mouth dry up. He quickly drained his glass, but couldn't bring himself to move his eyes away from Ginny to get another refill.

Ginny was singing into the microphone, her beautiful voice filling the pub but Blaise only focused on her full, pink lips moving so tantalisingly.

If you change your mind (Ginny sang looking only at Blaise.)

Take a chance

(Hermione, Pansy and Lavender had come near the stage and were singing the chorus, smiling at Ginny the whole time.)

I'm the first in line, Honey I'm still free

Take a chance on me (Ginny gave a cheeky wink at Blaise at that.)

If you need me, let me know, gonna be around

(Ginny then climbed off the podium and made her way towards Blaise who was sitting immobile in a chair, transfixed by Ginny's movements.)

If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down.

(Ginny confidently took the whiskey glass from Blaise's hand and placed it on the table.)

If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown

Honey I'm still free

Take a chance on me

(Ginny boldly sat on Blaise's lap sideways, still singing.)

Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie

If you put me to the test, if you let me try

(Ginny earnestly said the words and Blaise smiled back at her, placing his hands on her waist.)

Take a chance on me

That's all I ask of you honey

(The chorus girls crooned in the background from the stage.)

Take a chance on me

(With a big smile at Blaise, who was returning her gestures, Ginny kissed him.)

The crowd gave a loud cheer and whooped and clapped for the new couple.

"This round's on me!" Harry shouted and the crowd whooped again. Somebody began cat-calling when it seemed that Ginny and Blaise hadn't stopped kissing yet.

"Lucky bastard!" Draco hissed still sitting at the bar nursing his third drink of the night.

"Lucky indeed," Theo added.

Draco took a deep gulp and said, "You don't think Hermione would do anything like that for me, do you?"

"Nope," Theo replied popping the 'P'.

"So no songs for poor, handsome Draco here?" Draco asked bitterly.

"Well… if you hadn't insulted the girl you are pining for right now, then maybe there was a chance of planting an idea through Pansy. But you burnt that bridge long ago. Hell, you ruined the foundation before it could even set," Theo explained in a tipsy stupor.

"And you didn't even stop me from ruining it?" Draco accused Theo.

"I dragged you away from her at the Quidditch pitch but you shouted in your squeakiest voice how your father would hear about the mudblood who was trying to tell Draco the magnificent what to do," Theo spat out.

Draco flinched and with another deep gulp finished his drink. "I so want a time turner right now." He then rubbed his face with his palm and kept them covered.

"Well, at least you maintained a civil relation with her after the Yule Ball. That's a plus," Theo consoled him.

"That can garner me a song, right?" Draco asked hopefully.

"Nope," Theo answered popping the 'P' again. "You are destined to be alone. And pathetic. And miserable. And pathetic. And-"

"Okay, the drinks have gotten into your head. It doesn't look like Blaise is going to come with us." Blaise was busy sucking the face off the She-Weasley. Draco sneered at that. He would never be so inappropriate with Hermione. Ever. "Let's get you home, my friend." Draco put Theo's glass away and paid the bill and walked to the Floo along with Theo. But not without taking in Hermione's smiling and glowing face happy from being able to help her friend get the love of her life. When she smiled like that, his world lit up. But each day, that light seems to go away a bit...okay, a lot away from him. Soon, she'll again be that unattainable and untouchable person for him. He'd have to act fast.

The Valentine's Day seems a great plan for a declaration of love. After all, that's what the day is for. He'll have to make a good use of it. He's Draco Malfoy, for Merlin's sake, he'll figure out something amazing. Obviously.

* * *

**T.B.C. . .**


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am floored by your response! Barely a couple of hours went by when this story bagged 9kudos, a review and a bookmark! *_*  
> Thank you so much for your love!
> 
> Beta love to SeraNeko Chan. The most wonderful beta I could get.
> 
> My love to Puja for her never ending support and hugs to WinchesterGranger. She's a wonderful person!
> 
> There's no song in this chapter. So no list.
> 
> Onwards!

* * *

 

**The Daily Prophet**

**A Storm by the name of Granger**

**-Miranda Herondale**

**Wizarding Britain has been hit by a storm, my readers. And it is a storm that goes by the name of Hermione Granger. The recent self-made business woman has changed the way of our world with her introduction of muggle equipment which I am surprised to say has made life easier for us. Gone are the days of Floo call and owls. Now it is the age of real-time communication (more details on page 4). All made possible by the diligent Miss Granger. And she hasn't stopped with just that. With the collaboration of another set of self-made businessmen who started early, yes, I am talking about the Weasley twins of Weasley Wizard Wheezes, Miss Granger created the first ever amusement house of the Wizarding world(more details on page 4). Though there are many more things to Ms Granger's name, unfortunately, the woman of the hour was unavailable to give an interview but we managed to bag an interview with the Twins instead. (Turn to page 3 for the interview of The Weasley twins).**

**Now, coming back on the—**

"Are you done reading the newspaper out loud, Blaise?" Draco asked irritated as he ate his breakfast at Blaise's penthouse.

"My house, my rules." Blaise teased.

"I should have known you had an ulterior motive for inviting me to breakfast today," Draco replied tartly.

"My friend from the age of five, you had a sleepover at my house without telling me. I was surprised to see your pale arse amble out of the guest room. You should be thankful you are getting a breakfast." Blaise shot back.

"Hah. My presence keeps your elves happy," Draco replied back, taking a bite of his meal, chewing it slowly.

"So, when are you going to pop the question?" Blaise asked pretending to read the newspaper but actually keeping an eye on Draco from the corner of his eyes.

"What question?" Draco asked, despite knowing what was asked of him.

"The 'will you be my girlfriend?' question," Blaise asked tired of beating about the bush. Ginny's Gryffindorness must be converting him. He'll have to keep an eye on it for now.

Draco snorted. "Easy for you to say. Your girl sang her claim on you to the world."

"You do realise that's not going to happen with you?" Blaise asked.

"Why can it not happen with me?"

"Because that happens every time with you," Blaise answered and then started counting off, "Pansy, Astoria, that French heiress, that Witch Weekly model, and again Astoria, then—"

"I get it! No need to count off." Draco fumed.

Blaise looked at his friend who was looking a little too morose for his liking and said, "It doesn't mean you can't do anything about it. You declare your love for her instead."

"So that she can laugh at me and walk all over my heart?"

"Then ask permission to court her from her father. That will make this thing sound more serious. While you are at it, ask the bride price too. That'll fix this would-be relationship in stone."

Draco thought about it a little. "You are right."

"Of course I am right. Now as much as fun this morning has been, my girlfriend is due any moment now and it would do you good if you popped away from here. I'll like to shag her at every surface available in my house."

"Not that it wouldn't be fun but I'm more concerned about your friend trying to date my best friend." said Ginny from the doorway of the kitchen.

"Ginny! When did you come?" Blaise asked, getting up from his seat to greet his girl with a kiss.

Draco merely rolled his eye and took a drink of the freshly squeezed orange juice.

"Good morning, Malfoy." Ginny greeted cheerfully, taking a seat across him.

"Good morning," Draco replied, not ruining the moment with any well-deserved nicknames for the redhead sitting before him.

"I heard about what you were talking about," Ginny said expecting Draco to explain.

"You eavesdropped. That's different," Draco replied instead of explaining it.

"Semantics. Now spill." Ginny demanded, but Draco remained tight-lipped about it.

"He won't say anything, love. Let me explain," Blaise then proceeded to tell all about Draco's about a decade old crush on the brain of the Golden Trio and how he was pouting over the fact that Hermione didn't do anything like her friends to propose to Draco.

"I don't pout," Draco said firmly.

"You are pouting right now," Blaise replied.

"I am no.," Draco shot back.

"This can go on for the whole day. And we don't have a whole day. It's less than a month to Valentine's Day. Surprise her in a heartfelt manner and she'll certainly be yours," Ginny assured.

"But what should I do? She keeps making her friends proposal so grand that the thing I have in my mind is becoming very plain," Draco asked earnestly, not thinking about his pride for once.

"Well… this is insider news, okay? No spilling about it to anyone else. Because if it spills, I would know who to hex. And that includes you too, Blaise." Ginny warned.

"My lips are locked. But if you want to lock it tight, they would need a kiss," Blaise winked cheekily at Ginny.

Ginny gave a flying kiss and winked back mouthing 'later'. Draco again rolled his eye at his friend and his girlfriend's antics.

Draco motioned his hands to urge her to continue on with her 'top secret' secret.

"The things that Hermione does? Those are muggle clichés. The flash dance, the singing under the window of the girl you love, karaoke night- it's all very common in muggle culture." Ginny said and beamed at them.

Blaise and Draco merely blinked at her.

"So?" Draco asked finally.

"What so? That's the biggest clue I could give you." Ginny exclaimed

"That wasn't a clue. A business secret, yes but not a wooing tactics." Draco complained.

"Woo her using muggle clichés, you ferret!" Ginny said exasperatedly.

"Hey hey! No name-calling. I didn't call you she-weasel, did I? You can't call me that vile name." Draco protested loudly.

"You just said that," Ginny remarked.

"So it's fair now," Draco commented.

"No, it's not," Ginny replied back.

"I just explained it. I didn't say it—"

"Love, what possible clichés can we work with?" Blaise asked trying to break up the childish squabbling between the two.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I'm going to check some on the internet." Ginny said distractedly as she pulled out a flat thing with a slightly glowing surface.

"What is that thing?" Draco asked surprised, even more so when Ginny started tapping rather rapidly on the glowing surface.

"This is a tablet," Ginny explained, taking a seat on the sofa followed by Blaise and Draco who took a seat beside her. "This thing helps you make a phone call, video call, text messaging or net searching. But Hermione used some other word that distinctly had something to do with the beach."

"What net?" Draco asked, shoving aside his grudge for the sake of sating his curiosity.

"Internet. Hermione can explain you better about it. But it's basically a thing that can give you answers about anything and everything. You have to search things on the Google and it gives you an answer," Ginny explained as much as she could. "Oh! And you didn't see this thing," Ginny began waving the tablet in front of her, "you don't know what it can do. This is a prototype. They gave me to use it in case I can find any flaws with it."

"Another of Hermione's inventions?" Draco asked, his voice hinting a bit of pride at Hermione's achievement.

"Hermione says these things are already there in the Muggle world. She's only bringing the best of the muggle to the Wizarding world," Ginny said, equally proud of Hermione.

"How can we be sure that it's correct?" Blaise asked as he read the content of the glowing screen.

"Ask Hermione. She said it's correct for things up to a certain limit. And I believe it. The tricks I read about the hairstyles were really amazing," Ginny gushed as she furiously moved her hand on the screen.

"So it'll tell us about Valentine's Day clichés and then we are going to use it, right, Draco?" Blaise confirmed.

"As long as it seems ok," Draco answered.

After a while, both the men sat back, their eyes widen, with Ginny looking proud as punch.

"I didn't know muggles did all this without magic," Draco said with awe in his tone. He was utterly fascinated by what he saw and read.

"I know, right?" Ginny sassed.

"Muggles do that, right?" Draco asked a little unsure now.

"You saw it, mate," Blaise answered.

Draco huffed loudly, "Let's do it then."

"That's the spirit," Ginny said cheerfully and got up from the sofa. But to Draco, it seemed more like he sold his soul to the she-devil.

* * *

"You really didn't need to do this," Hermione told Ginny who was styling Hermione's hair.

"Nonsense! He's a great guy, you are a great girl. You deserve each other." Ginny encouraged, working on knotted and tangled strands.

"You are saying this now." Hermione snorted.

"And like a good friend you are supposed to trust my words," Ginny replied, her cheer not diminishing by any means.

"Last Valentine's day, you tried to set me up with Dave from the Harpies technical group," Hermione replied as she enjoyed her friend's ministration.

"I knew him to be a good guy. I didn't know he would turn out to be such a—"

"Stalker." Hermione supplied.

"Yeah, a stalker."

Both the girl gave a shudder at that.

"But this guy, you know him. I know him too. Nuh uh uh! I am not telling you the name. This is a blind date."

"But Ginny…" Hermione whined.

"But Hermione…" Ginny 'whined back'.

"Just one time." threatened Hermione without any heat.

"Just this one time," Ginny assured her.

* * *

Hermione wasn't so fond of dating given her bad experiences in the past. But she was getting good vibes for this one. Maybe she can give this ridiculous thing a chance. She fidgeted in her specified seat in the newest Quidditch stadium re-launched by The Malfoy Inc. She was told that Malfoy personally contacted the Weasley twins to install some muggle features to the stadium that was previously just a training stadium. Hermione was nervous, to be honest. Nobody she had ever dated had taken her to a Quidditch stadium for a date. And to make the matters worse, she hadn't even seen the guy. Ginny had, literally, delivered her to the VIP box at the stadium and now she was sitting there in the love seat nervously as she waited for her date to appear.

Hermione took a sip of the complimentary champagne that was served as soon as she reached there to calm her nerves. It was five minutes to five now. Her date was due in five minutes. She took deep breaths and tried to distract herself by thinking about her next items that were ready for launch. She had been working night and day to launch mobile phones and tablets in the Wizarding world. God knew the time and effort the Twins and she gave to this project with generous help from everybody else.

She had first been interested in changing the archaic laws of the Wizengamot but now after she had gotten the taste of research and re-invention she just wasn't able to let it go. It was like finding her true purpose while on a journey to achieve her supposed goals. She was changing the world, not by changing laws. But by changing lives. She was indirectly influencing so many lives. She blushed at her own appraisal of herself. Self-motivation is the best motivation. She was just about to take another sip when—

"You are looking lovely, Miss Granger." a drawling voice said from the entrance of the VIP box.

Hermione froze in her place and barely turned her head to see one smiling- yes, smiling- Draco Malfoy complimenting her. She stared at him for a moment more and replied, "If you hadn't said my surname along with that compliment, I would have assumed you were telling that to this box."

"Now you are being deliberately harsh," Draco said and sauntered in.

"I am not. Our past interactions have taught me that much." Hermione replied without any heat.

Malfoy flinched slightly and to Hermione's great surprise looked slightly sheepish.

"Well, about that. Forgive me?" Draco asked her bluntly.

"Since you are asking so nicely, I do. For today. Depends on how well you behave to me."

"Trust me, I plan to blow you away with my charm and handsomeness today," Draco proclaimed proudly. "Let me get your first surprise ready. I'll be back real quick." And he winked at her. He actually winked at her.

Hermione couldn't restrain the blush that bloomed across her face and gave him a shy smile in return. Sure, they didn't share an amicable history, but she couldn't deny the fact that she was fascinated by the boy, who had been her competitor all her school life. Yes, he was a git, but then again he was brought up that way. Her friends were dating Slytherins as well. If they could look beyond their school days rivalry, then so could she. After all, how could he hurt her here?

Draco quickly brought a glass of champagne for her and sat beside her. Soon after the match commentator welcomed the audience and began commentating on the game that was about to begin. Hermione got up and walked towards the railings of the box accompanied by Draco. He proudly looked as she took in the changes he made to the arena. She exclaimed in surprise as she saw the newest improvement in the stadium- a large display screen like ones in Muggle sports arena. Hermione laughed at that and her nervousness was all lost. Someone was trying his best to woo her it seemed.

She wasn't oblivious to the plotting of her friends' one true loves. She knew the Slytherin trio plus Pansy 'Icy Queen' Parkinson were trying to pair her off with Draco. And now her friends were teaming up with them to make the plotting happen. She was impressed that Draco, who came from such an orthodox family, was ready to incorporate changes in his business ventures to impress her. And she was. Impressed that is. Adoration was going right next to impressed. Lost in her musings, she didn't notice when someone entered the box and sat in the seat behind her.

"I didn't know you enjoyed watching Quidditch," a shrill feminine voice stated.

Hermione turned around to see Astoria sitting there in her seat with her hands clasped together on her lap and legs crossed showing off her leg from the slit in her dress. Astoria's smirk made Hermione lose her cool but she didn't show it. She was a businesswoman. Businesswomen don't lose their cool in the face of stress. "My date brought me here. Besides, I appreciate the changes he made to this stadium. Moving forward with time, you see."

Astoria merely shrugged at that and rudely called a house elf to serve her a glass of chilled champagne. The house elf was trying to tell Astoria something but she glared so badly at the poor creature that he scurried away, the empty tray tucked by his side.

Draco was looking decisively paler now since he could anticipate that Astoria's presence meant that she was ready to create a scene. He tried to diffuse the situation but before he even opened his mouth, Hermione began telling Astoria about how very rudely she was behaving with an upstanding member, so what if he's a creature, of the Wizarding society when a screech of 'Dracoooo' stunned her for a moment.

Hermione watched as Astoria, seemly defying gravity, jumped into Draco's arms and began to suck his face off. Draco was standing there shell-shocked, but when he realised he was in the danger of losing his face he quickly shoved Astoria away as politely as possible.

"Astoria! What the bloody hell is this!" Draco seethed; his temper now reaching a peak given how defeated Hermione looked at Astoria's actions.

"Why Draco? Is that the way to behave with your fiancée?" Astoria asked batting her eyelids like she was trying to seduce Draco with blinking.

"What?!" shouted Draco as Hermione simultaneously said, "Fiancée?"

"Why, yes! I heard your father discuss the bride price with my father today. And now, you sent that elf to me when I was sitting in the other box with this engagement ring in it," Astoria squealed as she shoved her fingers in Draco's face. A shiny gold ring with an equally shiny diamond on it was settled on Astoria's ring finger.

Meanwhile. . .

"Hey mate? You saw any elf here?" Blaise asked Theo as he searched for an elf in the rows of the stadium that was now filled by the audiences who were there to watch the match between Holyhead Harpies and Puddlemere United.

"Why don't you call out that elf's name? He'll pop in here," Theo suggested as he rolled his eyes at friend's antics.

"Problem is I forgot the name," Blaise replied hurriedly craning his head to look for any elf now.

"You forgot the name of the elf whom you had given your engagement ring to?" Theo whisper shouted at Blaise.

"I was instructing that elf when Ginny surprised me. So I shooed him away and…and managed to distract Ginny from questioning me further about the elf and the blue velvet box."

"Distracted her, huh? Then lost your memory for the moment?"

"They all have such ridiculous names! Tizzy, Izzy, Pizzy! Stupid names!"

"Don't let Hermione hear you!"

"Hey, what's Astoria doing there?" Theo asked as he looked at the VIP box through his Omnioculars.

Blaise snatched Theo's Omnioculars

"Is that my ring on Astoria's ring finger?"

"Merlin's hairy balls!"

"That bitch stole Ginny's ring!" Pansy gasped.

"Pansy! What are you doing here?"

"My husband came here with me to watch the match." Pansy sniped.

"What is that little brat prattling about? Hermione looks really upset!"

"Somebody should do something. Hermione looks like she's going to cry," Pansy whispered as she watched the tragedy in motion.

"It's too late. She disapparated away!"

"How the heck did you get here?" Theo exclaimed

"I came here with my wife. But she left me at our seat only to come here," Harry replied.

"What do we do now?"

"Visit Draco. He's bound to hit his bar,"

"He owns a bar?"

"He owns a drowning thy sorrow bar. It's well equipped. Comes with a bartender elf too,"

"Don't let Hermione hear that either."

"He gets paid,"

"In?"

"In drunken confessions. He's a bartender slash drinker's listener buddy."

* * *

It was definitely not a good day for Draco. He had lost his only chance at dating Hermione, thanks to Astoria. So here he was, at his favourite bar- no, he didn't visit filthy bars to drown in his sorrow. He had a well-equipped bar right at his house in his office along with a great bartender, Berry Pops who could make the best drinks on this side of the Atlantic. He loosened his tie roughly and sat heavily on the mahogany bar stool that lined the bar. He placed his elbows on the shiny black marble with red veins countertop and laid down his head. A loud pop announced his bartender house elf's arrival.

"Master needy drink?" the apron wearing house elf asked.

"The oldest Firewhiskey, Berry. The vintage '50s firewhiskey. I have a lot to drown in the fire of alcohol," Draco ordered gravely.

"Sad is master today," Berry wisely commented and went to the family wine cabinet to bring out the special sorrow drowner.

Draco was nursing his drink when the Floo flashed to allow Blaise and Nott in. Draco was quite drunk by the time his friends had found him.

"Oh look 'hat the cat dragged in? My devil advisers!" Draco shouted from his seat.

"Mate, what happened today?" Theo asked as he took the seat opposite to Draco.

"Ashhhtoria came. Shouted that I proposed to her witttth a ring. A fucking gold ring. In her champagne glassss. How uncreative." Blaise opened his mouth to protest but Theo glared him to silence. "And then she said- said that my father asked her father for briiiiiiiide priiiiiiiiice. My bird heard it and thought I was trying to cheat on Ash with her. She went awaaaaaaay!" Draco whined.

"She'll be here. You can owl her, clear the misunderstandings—" Theo tried to reason with him but Draco cut in.

"Noooooo. She's gone!"

"Gone where?" Blaise asked uttering for the first time he came to visit Draco.

"On a tour. To America. And To Scotland and to freaking Ireland!" Draco answered, taking a dramatic swing on his drink finishing it, only to get it refilled by Berry who empathetically nodded at Draco.

"That sounds bad," Theo commented.

"It is baaaaaad," Draco said, dragging the word.

"I did like to propose a toast," Blaise said raising his drink, which was provided to him by Berry as soon as he came sat down.

Theo rolled his eyes at Blaise's antics while Draco merely stared at Blaise blearily.

"To mistaken engagement!" Blaise tipped his head towards his friends.

"Tho lost lobe," Draco said, complete smashed now.

"To getting them back again!" Theo added cheerfully.

"To service to more masters!" Berry shouted his toast.

"Aye to that!" Draco roared.

* * *

"I mean, it's like a tragedy in motion. The man keeps tries to do things for the woman he has feelings for and the woman just keeps doing things that makes her way out of his league. It's like she's making herself more untouchable as days pass," Theo said with awe in his voice, clearly tipsy by now. He was probably on his fifth refill. But who cares?

"È vero, è proprio verissimo!" Blaise said as he gave a loud laugh, lapsing into his mother tongue as he got more inebriated.

"Blaise!" Pansy said his name menacingly as she entered the bar at Malfoy's chateau. Pansy took in the completely drunk Draco who was accompanied by Theo and Blaise to drown his sorrow in a stupor. Pansy thanked high heavens that she wasn't the one who was going to have to handle this grown up child.

"I donh care if it's thrue o' no, Blaaace. If yo' can'h tell meh 'ow to woo mah witch then tellh ma o' shush your passssta mouth!" Draco sneered. Well…with his present control over his facial muscle, it looked more like a goblin trying to smile. A handsome, platinum blonde fit to be on a magazine cover.

"Let's list what we know about Ms Hermione Granger," Theo suggested.

"Witch with a knack for incorporating muggle culture with Wizarding culture," Blaise listed.

"Bold and beautiful. Not afraid to sing tunelessly to help her best friend woo the love of his life," Pansy added smugly, a sipping her cosmos courtesy of Berry Pops.

"You remember that poem, Pans?" Theo asked.

"Yesss!" Pansy said as her eyes widened comically.

"She is beauty!" Theo began.

"She is grace!" Pansy added.

"She punched Malfoy in the face!" Blaise finished.

"Yo' kno' wha'? Get out!" Draco said as he sipped on his fire whiskey, "I di' 'ike to sulk on me own."

"Draco, stop being such a wet blanket," Theo admonished.

"No seriously, did you really think you could propose to her Valentine's Day? It's the most clichéd of all clichéd things ever!" Pansy commented.

"And what she's doing isn't clichéd?" Draco snapped, speaking coherently suddenly sober, "She's using all the clichéd things of muggle culture and since it's new in here, people are gobbling it up." Draco calmed himself a little. "I just…I just wanted to surprise her with muggle culture. They propose on Valentine's Day you know. It is considered lucky."

"You know what's lucky? St Patrick's Day!" Blaise suggested.

"Yeah. It's the superest lucky day. Plus you get to be green. Bonus as a Slytherin, you know," Theo added tipsily.

"You are right!" Pansy told Theo. Pansy turned towards Draco, "So surprise her. Propose on the greenest day. I bet she'll like the un-clichedness that you were so concerned about."

"This shit is strong!" Blaise commented as he took a shot of tequila this time.

"Where you get that?" Theo asked as he reached for an empty shot glass at the bar.

" 'uggle London. The bars 'ere 'ad really good variye-ty o' 'inks and 'ocktai. 'eally liked dome of 'em," Draco replied, slurring a bit more now that the anger was drained away as he still nursed his nearly empty firewhiskey glass.

"This drink's getting in my head. I'm gonna go home before I get nasty with anyone of you," Pansy said as she got up to Floo home.

"Ewww," the guys said in union.

"Yeah, right ewww. I would rather be nasty with the boy who gives intense bliss," Pansy sniped.

"More ewww," Blaise said.

"Didn't need to hear that," Theo grumbled into his drink.

"Tot…ally didn't," Draco added. "Save thaz fo' the girlz talk,"

"It's old news, boys. Don't forget to give me heads up on Draco. I would hate to miss that," Pansy sauntered out.

"I will," Theo called out.

"You know 'hat she said?" Draco slurred. "Thank you for this wonderful Valentine's Day date. She said thank you. Fucking thank you. Said she'll 'ever forget thees."

"That gold digging Niffler from hell stole my Ginny's ring," Blaise complained.

"For today, only today, we mourn. Tomorrow, we regroup and take what is rightfully ours," Theo proposed.

"Tooo late. Hermione's off to America for launching those thingies she makes," Draco said again.

"When she'll be back?" Blaise asked.

"Late, late, late. Mid- march late," Draco replied.

"Maybe it's time we prayed to St Patrick for some luck in our life." Theo suggested.

"May that harpy return my ring!" Blaise mumbled.

"May I bag a hotshot guy!" Theo exclaimed.

" 'ay Hermy be MINE" Draco shouted.

"Amen!" Berry Pop exclaimed from behind the bar.

* * *

**T.B.C. . .**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review please! I would love to hear from you!
> 
> In case you get bored during the wait, I have two more Dramiones in my list.  
> The Christmas Change- gender bender story thanks to the Twin's prank the night before Christmas. It was fun writing gender bender Dramione. I shall continue doing that. Look out for a year 1 to year 7 and some more gender bender Dramione where our hero Hermes is the Boy Who Lived.  
> The Cherubby Mistake- Valentine's Day special Dramione with a side of Ransy. A lil crack but fluffy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _  
> Your response to this story has blown me away. Thank you so much for the love and the appreciation you have given to this story. I'll self-pimp my other stories at the end of the chapter. The last chapter, everyone! I hope you liked this story. It was fun writing this._  
>  _Beta love to SeraNeko Chan!_  
>  _And my love to my bestie, Puja and to the cinnamon roll sitting a continent away, WinchesterGranger._  
>  _The song list for this chapter:_  
>  _The Wanted-Glad You Came_  
>  _Parliament- The Silent Boatman_  
>  _Carly Rae Jepsen- I Really Like You_  
>  _Enrique Iglesias- Somebody's Me_  
>  _Lady GaGa- Love Game_  
>  _Onwards!_

* * *

 

 

The meeting dragged on and Hermione could barely restrain herself from walking out of the conference room. This meeting with the sponsors was suffocating the researcher/inventor in her. It felt like she was in a market where everyone was bidding his money for her very soul. Some were even trying to flirt with her which reminded her of McLaggen's antics. Hermione grimaced and looked at the watch as she counted down the hours to freedom.

The twins were the handling the negotiation for their newest Muggle Devices Reinvented- Tablet or the MDR Tab for short. Thank God she had gotten better at acronyms, instead of the few horrible she had made up at Hogwarts. The voices rose as one especially rich sponsor, adhering to his stereotype of fat, stout and balding, louder questioned the need to pay muggles for the right to the tablets. Hermione sighed and pulled out her phone from her pocket to check up on some notifications when her phone buzzed. Fortunately, nobody noticed Hermione's diverted attention as she checked the new message.

**Miss Granger,**

**I would appreciate it if you would have lunch with me today. Some things need to be clarified regarding the patent rights' payment. I hope to see you at the Green Luck at one.**

**~Lucius Malfoy**

Hermione's eyebrows rose into her hairline as she read the name of the sender. What could the Malfoy patriarch have to do with her patent? Most importantly, Lucius Malfoy owned a phone?! Wow… She was very surprised. She then shrugged, Malfoy's motives would be revealed at lunch. Besides, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. She quickly checked the time and found it was already ten to one.

"Gentlemen!" Hermione started, stopping the now dimming heated discussion, "It's almost lunch now. We can continue this discussion after we have had a good lunch."

The sponsors nodded their agreement and the twins led them out. Hermione got up and went out to tell George who was nearest to her that she wasn't going to join them for lunch.

"I got an invite for lunch," Hermione stated.

"With whom?" George asked cheekily.

"Lucius Malfoy," Hermione replied matter-of-factly.

"What! Why him?" George asked, surprised that the head of the Malfoy family was willingly meeting up with Hermione who was as Gryffindor as Gryffindors could get. Conveniently forgetting that Hermione had saved the marriage of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.

"That's what I'd like to find out as well," Hermione replied.

"You know the way to the conference room. Come back after you're done," George advised. Hermione gave him a light-hearted slap to his bicep and went to the fireplace to Floo.

* * *

As Hermione made her way to the classiest restaurant in magical Ireland, the only thing running through her mind was what could interest Lucius Malfoy in her works. Sure, the twins and her products were the bestsellers on the market, but Malfoy Inc. didn't dilly dally with products like the ones they were marketing. Their main concerns were estates and companies- the big fishes. What had made them change their minds?

Their stadium had incorporated Muggle equipment like the big screen, which the sports column of the Daily Prophet appreciated a lot since it showed the replays and highlights of the match making the people with no Omnioculars really happy. Oh, and they had added the kiss cam too. Last time, they made Harry kiss Pansy as they attended Holyhead Harpies match where the kiss cam was most appreciated for spotting one bachelor Zabini proposing the hot-shot Chaser G. Weasley.

Hermione smiled as she reminisced about that incident. She was really happy that her friends were finding the love of their lives. It was so picture perfect. Ginny had tried to set up another date for her after the most horrible Valentine's Day date that could ever happen to someone. Nope! Hermione Granger had sworn off dating for this lifetime.

Blaise had explained to Hermione about the mix up that happened during that Valentine's Day date with Draco, but Hermione couldn't get the words out of her head that Astoria had said; that Lucius had gone to discuss bride price with Mr Greengrass. In pureblood circles, discussing bride price was as final as throwing an engagement party. Hermione had waved Blaise's words off. If Draco was really serious about dating her, he should have made an effort. He should have come forward to clarify the misunderstandings. No, Hermione didn't have time for those who didn't put in any effort.

If it was God's will, her love should drop from the sky and sweep her off her feet and sail into the setting sun but she ain't going back to the horrid and cruel world of dating. No, sir!

Hermione was filled with confidence, after her small pep talk with herself, when she walked into the restaurants and was escorted to her seat by the maître d'. Lucius Malfoy was already sitting there and he stood up when she approached his table. He sent the maître d' away and helped Hermione get settled into the chair opposite to him and then he took his seat.

"I am glad you could make it," Lucius said as he signalled the waiter elf to bring the wine list. "Any preference for the wine, Ms Granger?"

"I'll trust your choice, Lord Malfoy," Hermione replied politely.

Lucius quickly glanced at Hermione and then turned to order some wine Hermione had never heard of.

"I happen to know that words follow freely in the presence of good food and excellent wine. So, please order the meal, Ms Granger," Lucius said frankly, taking in that Hermione wasn't very comfortable in his presence.

Though Malfoy Sr. had said that very politely, Hermione couldn't help but bristle with indignation at the thought that the man sitting before her was underrating her. But she was channelling her inner business woman. And she sure as hell wouldn't allow this git to get a rise out of her. Though her movement was rather choppy, she picked up her menu card and decided to order the most expensive dish just to unsettle him. But then again was a company owner going to get frazzled just because she ordered a 25 galleons dish? She didn't think so.

The roasted lamb chops with thick spicy and exotic herbs infused gravy sounded right, so she ordered that while Mr Malfoy suggested a baby corn dish as starters. It was a session of small talks as they started to eat but Hermione could sense that the whole situation was for her benefit. He was easing her in into something that she wouldn't general like. As Hermione began to eat her fine dessert of a slice of chocolate gateau with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream, she gathered her courage to speak out her harsh observation.

"You are easing me into something with this fine lunch, aren't you?"

"You would be insulting me if you thought I would treat you to just a paltry lunch to get my point across to you."

Hermione steeled herself to the 'point' that Lucius apparently to get across her. "Then what?"

"I know that being frank with a mascot of Gryffindor such as you would save me a headache."

Hermione merely scowled at him.

"I want the marketing rights of your latest product: the pill."

"Tablet, you mean," Hermione corrected him.

"Yes, that."

"Then you could have petitioned to join the meeting that is taking place today regarding just that," Hermione replied curtly.

"Why do that when I can negotiate that sitting here in a comfortable place with good food and an even better company without being in the presence of the meddling idiots who can't make heads nor tails of a business negotiation?"

"This is unethical."

"Is it?" Lucius Malfoy gave the trademark smirk. But on him, it looked sinister and on Draco, it looked naughty. Hermione's eyes widened on their own at her realisation that she was still thinking about the heartless prat. She shook her head as if that could dislodge the bad thoughts.

_'_ _If only Draco was half this savvy as his father,'_ Hermione thought and then again shook her head to dislodge the bad, bad thoughts out about Draco trying to turn his charm on for her. _'Well, he had almost charmed her off her feet had Astoria not spilt the beans. It would have horrible if she found out about the engagement fiasco later after a really good date.'_

The motion didn't go unnoticed by the Malfoy patriarch who looked like the cat who got the canary for its kitten. Draco was a fine boy but Narcissa's canoodling had made him rather…soft. He seemed to fumble his way through when facing a situation that was a little too close to heart. And it didn't help that Draco had gone through a time where he was faced with an absent father when he needed a father in his life the most.

At least, Lucius got out of the jail on parole in mere five years but by then his darling boy was already seven years old. Things between them only got more complicated with Lucius's need to be a firm and tradition-minded man and Narcissa being the doting yet a modern mother. No wonder his boy was such a confused young man most of the time. He hoped that the woman sitting before him could make a man out of his boy.

"Those money hungry grubs have made that meeting a farce. I am giving you a way out. I'll agree to the conditions you have stipulated, no unnecessary negotiations over frivolous matters. The rights shall be bought from the Muggles, the product shall be made according to the standards you mentioned and there would be fair pricing."

"What's the catch?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"A slight change in the logo. After all, the marketer needs his publicity too."

"I can hear the 'and' at the end of the sentence."

"The marketing rights to the new products to be released in the next five years."

Hermione gasped. "You are asking for a lot of things."

"Just like this offer, my company shall give you and our fellow…researchers carte blanche to the conditions. We just want the marketing rights. Full rights, mind you."

Hermione thought a little about the offer that Mr Malfoy was making. This carte blanche for the next five years would be a dream coming true for her goals. Even for the twin's goals. They'll have to never look back after this. But—

"What about the share of the profits?" Hermione asked critically.

"Lion's share for you three."

"Why are you not negotiating on this?" Hermione was very suspicious now.

"I am negotiating. Am I not monopolising the bid for the market price?"

Hermione was lost in her thoughts, weighing the pros and cons. Lord Malfoy put his hand in the pocket of the inside of his jacket and pulled out an envelope with the Malfoy family insignia and held it out to her to take it.

"It would please me to no ends if you came to visit my villa here and got those contracts signed."

Hermione took the offered object. "I can't guarantee that. Fred and George need to agree on this too. And my lawyer needs to look over them too."

"They are businessmen too. They know a profit when they see one. And I would not mind if you brought your lawyer in tow. But for tomorrow, being a special day here, please come to enjoy. We can work later. "

"We'll see."

"My driver shall bring you to the villa at eleven in the morning."

"What's wrong with the Floo?"

"The scenic beauty is something worth watching, Ms Granger. And tomorrow's St Patrick's day, in case you have forgotten. Come, have some homemade food and some good Guinness beer. I assure you my Irish elves make the best Shepherd's pie. You could then go sightseeing later as well. I am sure you won't regret it."

Hermione nodded and accepted the invitation. Lucius called the waiter elf to pay the bill. Lucius then stood up and helped Hermione out of her chair. As he turned to walk away, he stood for a moment and turned back to face Hermione.

"Oh, and Ms Granger?"

"Yes."

"I think you deserve to know that sometimes the bride price is discussed in the event of annulment of a prior betrothal contract. That was what happened on a certain Valentine's Day."

He gave a curt nod and excused himself by bidding her goodbye and went his way.

Hermione was thoughtful for a minute or so. But then she realised she was dealing with a Slytherin and rolled her eyes. She walked to the hotel room where the twins were staying and knocked the door. A few moments later, Hermione was let in and she told them about the new development in the situation.

Fred wasn't very eager about this partnership, but George could see a viable profit and the lack of headaches when these products would actually be on sale. They decided to agree upon it. And they personally Floo-called the potential sponsors to tell them the deal had been sealed with someone who agreed to all their demands.

The sponsors were pissed off but at the end of the day, the decision laid in the hands of the owners only. They thought delaying it would lower the rights' cost but somebody else had swooped in.

Hermione dressed up for the next day. She didn't don her no-nonsense business jumpsuit but instead, she went out and bought a simple ivory maxi dress with full sleeves and with green V-shaped patterns on it. It was a bit chilly in the morning after the downpour that didn't seem to stop. But the celebrations could take place without a hitch, as it seemed it would be a chilly cloudy day.

The driver promptly picked Hermione up at eleven and by the time they were just a mile away from the villa, a crowd of people caused a traffic jam and the driver had to request Hermione to leave the car so that he could escort her to the villa. Navigating the milling crowd was impossible now.

Hermione was walking through the crowd escorted by the driver, Jace, when suddenly a lurch of someone behind got her separated from Jace. The crowd was walking around her now without giving her a moment to get a grip. Suddenly, everyone froze in their place. Hermione was getting a little freaked out now. Then, everybody started raising their hands to the crooning of music that had just begun.

The sun goes down

The stars come out

And all that counts

Is here and now

My universe will never be the same

I'm glad you came (Everyone was looking at her now.)

You cast a spell on me, spell on me

(A guy took her hand and spun her around before she could even get a proper look at him.)

You hit me like the sky fell on me, fell on me

(He held on to her hand and tilted her down with a hand against her back and Hermione found herself staring at the stormy grey eyes of one Draco Malfoy)

And I decided you look well on me, well on me

(He pulled her up and embraced her tightly.)

So let's go somewhere no-one else can see, you and me

(He gave her another spin)

Turn the lights out now

(Hermione stumbled a little as Draco was not there to support her, instead Blaise who was there in Draco's place crooning those words near her.)

Now I'll take you by the hand

(Harry came out of the dancing crowd and took her hand and she giggled as Harry awkwardly tried to swing to the beat.)

Hand you another drink

(From her right, Theo came out and handed her a delicate glass of champagne.)

Drink it if you can

(Ginny sang to her coming up from behind her.)

Can you spend a little time,

(Pansy came in front of her, parting the dancing mass and lip synced to those words.)

Time is slipping away, away from us so stay,

(Draco again came on the scene to hold her hands.)

Stay with me I can make,

Make you glad you came

(And he pull her into his arms to dance along to the music.)

The sun goes down

The stars come out

(As they danced to the music it seemed like there were only two of them, the dancing people around them all forgotten.)

And all that counts

Is here and now

My universe will never be the same

I'm glad you came

I'm glad you came

Draco looked into her eyes and leant in to kiss her forehead and as the music began to take up the pace, he gave her a small half spin and disappeared in the throng of the dancing people. Hermione looked around herself to find where he had gone, but it seemed he had disappeared just like he had appeared- abruptly. But she knew it in her bones, he had something more planned.

She spotted her favourite prankster twins dancing madly with their better halves and all her friends enjoying themselves to the sudden groovy mood. It wasn't so sudden after all, given that this was all planned by them. Or rather by Draco, it seemed. Given, how Mr Malfoy and Blaise before him had clarified the situation caused by misunderstandings, Hermione was okay with giving Draco another chance. It wasn't his fault that Astoria assumed that Draco was proposing her when she 'hijacked' Blaise's assigned elf. She almost felt pity for the girl. But she had that coming. Nobody misbehaves with a hardworking, self-sacrificing elf and gets away with it. It's karma's payback!

As she was busy thinking, she didn't notice when someone grabbed her hand and pulled her from the crowd which had stopped dancing now and was making their way into the grassy park by the roads. She heard the bagpipes playing and the mass parted its way for her and the person who was dragging her along- a raven-haired guy whose hair desperately needed the loving tugs of a comb. The bagpipers were dressed in their traditional garb but the tune they were playing sounded suspiciously like The Silent Boatman by Parliament. And it indeed turned out to be just that.

She didn't know where Draco appeared from again (she did suspect he was inconspicuously using magic around the clueless Muggles but that's something she would rather discuss later), but he was now dressed in a casual moss green suit and he took her hand to dance to the slow music.

It is said that when we leave this world

(Draco was slow dancing with her in two steps style. Hermione couldn't help but wrap her hands behind his neck and swing with him.)

If we have suffered we will be saved

(They simply swayed to the music.)

So I'll lift up my head, whoever I am

(Draco took one of Hermione's hand in his and let his other rest on her lower back and smoothly rocked side to side with her, intently looking into her eyes as if she was the only girl in the world.)

What I cannot do here, there's a place that I can

("Just give me one chance, Hermione. One chance to prove you that I really really like you," Draco whispered in her ears and her body broke into goosebumps.

"Okay, I can do that," Hermione replied back and blushed a little.

Draco smirked at her and twirled her around.)

I'm waiting for the silent boatman

To ferry me across the unknown waters.

The two of them had stopped dancing now and were watching the band of the Bagpipers play the tunes as Draco wrapped his arm around her giving her a side hug. This time a crowd of people dressed as leprechauns started pulled her in their midst and threw fake golden coins in the air this time as confetti. Surprisingly, they didn't hit her head. She knew it was subtle magic at play. Then Ginny escorted her to the other side of the park a little away from the performing bagpipers.

"You guys have planned this all out, didn't you?" Hermione asked, with a big smile.

"No, no! It was all Draco's doing," Ginny replied as she guided her to some place only the crew knew about. "By the way, love this dress. It's flaunting all those killer curves!"

"Ginny!"

"Hermione!"

"Okay now, just wait here, hmm?"

Hermione nodded as Ginny melted into the crowd. The crowd had again gone still and the bagpipers had stopped playing too. Different music floated in the air and it was distinctly pop music.

I really wanna stop but I just got the taste for it

(Blaise came in the view swinging Ginny to the beat.)

I feel like I could fly with the girl on the moon

(Pansy came in from Hermione's right side trying to make Harry groove to the beat but it seemed like she was trying to make a camel dance. Hermione giggled as Pansy confidently took the lead.)

So honey hold my hand, you like making me wait for it

(Dean and Seamus were just kidding around all the dancing members.)

I feel like I could die walking up to the room, oh yeah

(Before she could find which of her other friends were dancing in there, Draco came from behind her and held her.)

Late night watching television

(Draco lip-synced to the song as the crowd around them kept dancing.)

But how'd we get in this position

(Draco gave her hand a pull. Unexpecting the move, Hermione landed on Draco, her chest flat on his front as he smirked at her.)

It's way too soon, I know this isn't love

(Draco said this, his tenor making the words sound so sensual. All Hermione could do was stare at his lips that now really looked inviting.)

But I need to tell you something

I really really really really really really like you

(Draco crooned. It took Hermione a lot of effort to not turn into a puddle of gushing adoration.)

And I want you, do you want me, do you want me too?

I really really really really really really like you

And I want you, do you want me, do you want me too?

(Hermione nodded at him earnestly and the watching crowd, she didn't know the crowd had stopped dancing now, cheered loudly for them.)

The song carried on for some more minutes, but this time Pansy came to escort Hermione to the edge of the road where a parade like progression was walking. And a float came in looking like a balcony, stopping right in front of Hermione and Pansy.

"Well, honey, it's your ride here. Go climb atop it," Pansy instructed her.

"Good God, what more has he planned?" Hermione moaned happily.

"He really wants to impress you," Pansy replied nonchalantly, then her tone turned serious. "Look, he really likes. I am not supposed to spill the beans but I think you need to hear this. He's always liked you. Wait, wait! Let me finish first. I know he acted like a jerk to you at school. Called awful names, but they were all a product of…bad parenting. Trust me. We are not like that."

"Pansy, I understand you. I guess I wasn't so eager to believe in him either. Which is why I expected him to hurt me on Valentine's day. So when that happened, I thought…" Hermione ended with a shrug.

"For a Gryffindor Princess, you are pretty under-appreciative about yourself."

"No thanks to certain someone for this, then."

"Did his words affect you this much?"

Hermione merely gave her the patented 'You-are-an-imbecile-if-you-ask-me-that-question.

"Sorry! Gee, smartass much? Come on now. Get up your ride," And Pansy pushed Hermione lightly towards the back of the balcony float.

"Right. Hey! What am I supposed to do up there?"

"What you were doing all along- Enjoy!"

Hermione shook her head and picked up her skirt a bit so that she didn't stumble on the narrow stairs in a tunnel-like space. She made her way out of there and found herself in a balcony that was most likely used as a prop in the famous Romeo and Juliet balcony scene. There were fake flowers hanging from the railings and the background was a tacky pink yet Hermione didn't mind it one bit. There was a patio table and chair that Hermione guessed were transfigured out of something and there was a pitcher of a chilled drink and some snacks that had a Stasis spell cast on them.

'He really is going out of his way for me,' Hermione thought as she sat down and conjured a glass to pour her drink and nibbled on a stuffed sweet bread. Before she noticed that her surrounding had fallen silent, the strumming of a guitar filled the air.

You, do you remember me

(Draco's husky tenor again made Hermione break into goosebumps.)

Like I remember you?

(By now, she had gotten up to look down the balcony with a big smile on her face. He was there with a guitar singing into the microphone with the other people standing behind him clapping to the beat. And he was not lip syncing. He was actually singing it and so beautifully as well. Blaise and Theo were helping him with the chorus but Hermione could barely move her eyes away from Draco.)

Do you spend your life

Going back in your mind to that time?

(It felt like he was seducing her with his voice and that huskiness that crept into voice just as he ended a sentence.)

'Cause I, I walk the streets alone

I hate being on my own

(He was staring right at her and all Hermione could do was stop herself from jumping into his arms!)

And everyone can see that I really fell

And I'm going through hell

Thinking about you with somebody else

(No! She'll never be with somebody else if he pleaded like that.)

Somebody wants you

Somebody needs you

Somebody dreams about you every single night

Somebody can't breathe, without you- it's lonely

Somebody hopes that one day you will see

That somebody's me

That somebody's me

Hermione couldn't stop herself anymore. She ran down the stairs and quickly jumped into Draco's arms embracing him to death (which was rather awkward given the guitar which was hanging from Draco's torso and the microphone and the cables attached to the guitar). But nobody minded it. Draco was happy that he could show her that he was someone worth her time and emotions.

"I really like you, Hermione. I am not there yet but I am sure, it wouldn't take me much time to fall heads over heels in love with you," Draco whispered into her ears.

"I wouldn't mind being in love with you either," Hermione replied pulling back a little to look into his eyes.

It seemed like Draco for looking for some secret permission from Hermione when he finally tilted his head to place a soft kiss on her lips. Hermione's eyes closed on their own and she enjoyed the feel of his lips against her.

Draco was the first to pull back from the chaste kiss. He earnestly began, "I know. This is very abrupt. It might seem to you that this is a development that happened in very little time but… Hermione, I have always liked you. Back at school, I was a major git. It was only because I was jealous of you."

"Jealous of me? Well excuse me, have you met me?"

"Met you and realised what a blunder I had made in school. You are so perfect. Do I deserve you?"

"If you keep treating me like this, then you surely do," Hermione replied cheekily.

"Gladly."

And this time, Hermione stood on her toes to kiss Draco full on his mouth- the adult version.

"Awwwww…" went the girls who looked upon the scene like they were watching kittens and puppies be cute and fluffy.

"Okay, ladies! Time to move your lovely butts near your significant other's butts," Theo announced as he tried to herd them out.

"Hey, hey, hey! We deserve to watch it all. We worked our butts off on this," Ginny snapped back.

"Yeah!" Hannah added to that. Theo turned to look at her and she shouted enthusiastically, "What she said!"

"Ehhhh… I think they need to take this to the bedroom," Harry said uncomfortably as he blushed when he watched Draco's hands roam all over Hermione's body.

"Saucy. I have never seen Draco so…" Blaise waved his hands at him vaguely, "voyeuristic."

"It's you who is a voyeur. Draco's just being an exhibitionist," Neville stated.

"They really need to get a room is," Ron whined as he watched the newest couple grind their bodies against each other.

"Hey, you two get a room," Lavender shouted breaking the romantic moment between Draco and Hermione. "My ankles are swollen, the babies are trying to be Beaters and are mistaking my bladder for a Bludger and I want smores and fondue with vanilla ice cream right now!"

"Yes, ma'am," replied all the men present there.

When Pansy turned to look for Draco and Hermione, she found they had already apparated away to 'get a room'.

_'Somebody's getting lucky tonight,_ ' Pansy thought smugly and smirked at a panicking Ron who was following the orders of a pregnant Lavender. _'Hope they have a really fun time. Those scented candles and rose petals and the jazzy music should have set the right mood for a romp in the sack. Mrs Malfoy was rather helpful too. After all, she really wanted grandbabies to dote on.'_ Pansy chuckled and went to show a fumbling Harry how to conjure the softest throw pillow for Lavender's tender ankles.

* * *

**One year later…**

The day was absolutely exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. The vows were done, they dutifully said their 'I do's and Draco had soundly kissed his blushing bride. All the ladies ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the right moment. Fred and George sabotaged Blaise's best man speech by jinxing him to say 'That ass' whenever he tried to say Draco's name and 'Her Bushiness' every time he tried to say Hermione's name. Blaise countered by making the twins hair flash like fairy lights of neon shade. Harry was Hermione's man of honour and he gave the most sarcastic and funny speech ever. Hermione knew that it loudly shouted how good Pansy had influenced him. God bless that raven haired, comb deviant.

Then, they cut a marvellous cake that had eight tiers which were standing proudly without any structural help, only made possible by magic. The tiers depicted scenes from their time at Hogwarts right from the first year to their seventh and the eighth tier showed Hermione the business woman and Draco the man desperately in love. It was so beautiful, complete with moving figurines on them- flying owls and the infamous Buckbeak to dragons of Triwizard competition and the hardworking elves. The cake was too good to be cut but Pansy and Ginny promised that more than enough pictures were clicked of the cake as well as videos taking of the moving figurines on the cake.

Soon it was time for their first dance and following the Malfoy family tradition, the newest Mr and Mrs Malfoy waltzed around the ballroom gracefully. Every twirl and spin caused Hermione's ivory reception dress to bloom out like a blossoming flower with Draco in a tuxedo and dark green undershirt complementing her beautifully.

After finishing up their formal dances with their respective parents, Hermione brought Draco to the middle of the dance floor.

"I have always wanted to do this with you," Hermione whispered excitedly to Draco as she hopped from one foot to another in excitement.

But Draco could ask her what she meant, a techno voice filled the hall.

Let's have some fun, this beat is sick

I wanna take a ride on your disco stick

Let's have some fun, this beat is sick

I wanna take a ride on your disco stick

Hermione winked at Draco. "Can't have let you have the last say, can I? I started this after all!"

Draco merely kissed her and pulled her into him to dance crazily to the music.

I wanna kiss you

But if I do then I might miss you, babe

(Hermione lip-synced to the lyrics as she acted out the words while moving sassily around Draco.)

It's complicated and stupid

Got my ass squeezed by sexy Cupid

(Draco just did what those words said and Hermione gave a surprised yelp! at his antics.)

Guess he wants to play, wants to play

A love game, a love game

(Hermione moved her hips sensually to the rhythm, snapping her fingers to the beats.)

Hold me and love me

Just wanna touch you for a minute

(Hermione winked at Draco and he gave a low groan.)

Baby three seconds isn't enough

For my heart to quit it

(Hermione grind her back to Draco's front very slightly much to her friends' cheering)

Let's have some fun, this beat is sick

I wanna take a ride on your disco stick

(Draco was slowly moving his body in time with Hermione's.)

Don't think too much just bust that kick

I wanna take a ride on your disco stick

(And Hermione boldly pulled Draco by his collar down to her level, only to place a kiss on his nose.)

Let's play a love game, play a love game

Do you want love or you want fame?

(Hermione gave a big smile at him and kept lip syncing song acting rather coy.)

Are you in the game?

Doin' the love game

(Draco took the hint and pulled Hermione even closer and tilted her making her almost level with the ground and snogged like his life depended on it.)

The song continued on as all their friends whooped and cat-called at the dancing duo, now kissing duo, much to the nose wrinkling of the elders present.

But they didn't mind all that much. Sometimes all this generation needs is, to say what they feel in songs. And the bride definitely was talking about what the groom has in store for that day with the song. Young love and the crazy, romantic moments it brought upon. Silly, young people.

**.x.o.x.o.x.o.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **FIN!**   
>  **I hope you liked it! There'll be one more story after this and then a long hiatus. In that time I'll be finishing The Lost Cause and a AU Tomione. Hope to see ya'all on end of July.**   
>  **My other one shots advertisement!**   
>  **The Christmas Change- Gender Bender Dramione thanks to the Twin's prank. Everyone in the story becomes their opposite gender even Remus and Sirius and Tonks. You might like it.**   
>  **The Cherubby Mistake- Ron hires a gaggle of cherubs to make an impression on the suave Pansy but what happens when wild cherubs decide to take matters into their own hands? Dramione with a side of Ransy!**   
>  **In case you need some insane Hermione in your life.**   
>  **The Lost Cause- Welcome into the life of Hermione Granger. A scorned witch with a sliping grip on reality. Join her as she lights the world on fire only to watch it burn with a smile and her head on her beau, Scarecrow of Gotham's shoulder. Crossover with graphic violence (not so much as the Saw, Friday the 13th or My Bloody Valentine. Much less in fact. Promise.)**   
>  **I do have a time travel Hermione/ Sirius but it's muse on a holiday. Recently, she's been giving me some scraps to work on but it isn't enough to get the story back to its tracks again. But you can always check it out and give me some ideas or stuff.**   
>  **And the AU Dramione is going through a complete makeover (or not) in my head. It needs a lot of help. I'll give it enough time after my exams are over. Honest.**   
>  **Till then,**   
>  **toodles!**   
>  **Review if you please!**

**Author's Note:**

> Review if you please!


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